The Turkish press is enduring a period when the most basic journalism practices are hindered due to the state of emergency, the pandemic, and other issues. Despite this, GIJN Turkish found several praiseworthy stories produced by independent journalists this past year. Here we highlight eight stories chosen for their significance, public interest, their use of investigative tools, data sources and techniques, and their commitment to social accountability.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve seen heated debate on whether to best solve the health crisis through “herd immunity” — the indirect protection that occurs when much of a population becomes immune to infection. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from May 11 to 17 finds FiveThirtyEight creating a simulation calculator which shows that getting to herd immunity without a vaccine isn’t quite that simple; The Marshall Project tracking COVID-19 cases and deaths in prisons across America; the BBC’s Media Show highlighting data journalists as the media’s latest rock stars; and Istories and MediaZona examining elder abuse in Russia, which experts fear may worsen during the pandemic with so many people staying home.
In Russia, veteran human rights activist Leonid Agafonov and journalist Natalia Donskova have teamed up to create a series of investigative reports on life for women behind bars. The project covers taboo topics, spanning health issues like the treatment of cancer patients and childbirth in prison to sexual abuse and LGBT relationships.
In early 2019, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples expressed serious concerns about the systems of justice for Indigenous persons, announcing plans to write a thematic report and inviting public input. Although stories about singular crimes play out daily in the media, it is rarer to see examinations of systemic problems within the criminal justice system.In her call for comments, Victoria Tauli Corpuz cited these “main concerns”:
The lack of effective recognition of, and support for, their systems of justice by local, regional, and national level authorities.
